The railway station at Lundin Links opened when the line extension between Leven and Kilconquhar became ready for use in August 1857. However, the lack of population around the station meant that an understanding was reached that the station would only be kept open if enough traffic was generated within five years. Accordingly, the first station building was a temporary structure (according to 'The Leven & East of Fife Railway' by Hajducki, Jodeluk & Simpson, 2013). Nevertheless, after a year or so, in order to enhance the appeal of the village, Standard Life contributed to the building of a proper station and station keeper's house.
At the same time, other building work was going on in the village. A new school and school master's house was commissioned by Standard Life. In some ways it seems strange that a school was built in what was envisaged to be a holiday destination, where families would spend time in the summer and not all year round. Perhaps this was seen as a means of getting existing residents 'on side' with the development. Probably the existing school at the corner of Crescent Road and Emsdorf Road was needing replaced anyway. As it turned out, the new school was sited approximately where the 1853 plan suggested - on the site of the present library and to be surrounded by new 'cottages'.
Below is the advertisement inviting tradesmen to provide estimates for the work on the school. Note that the architect named in the advert, John Milne, was clerk of works in the St Andrews area for David Bryce. Bryce was a highly successful architect working across Scotland and in London and he was a close personal friend of Standard Life Manager William Thomson. James Campbell Walker was Bryce's Principal Clerk at the time and both Walker and Milne were heavily involved in this period of development of Lundin Links. Either Milne or Walker, or both, must have designed the Lundin Mill School. Milne is credited with the design of a similar-looking school in Dunino which was built in 1856, while Walker is certainly architect of the neighbouring Crescent Road buildings. Either way, the Lundin Mill School design is very much 'of the Bryce school'.